Volunteers step up as India sets another record for COVID cases and foreign help doesn't come fast enough
CBSN
New Delhi — Last week, when 54-year-old Suruchi Singh's coronavirus infection took a turn for the worst and she was struggling to breathe, her family scrambled to get her into a hospital, but there were no beds available. Singh's daughter panicked.
She reached out online to Gayatri Manchanda, an artist who'd recently started helping people get information on where to find vital medical resources. "I must have made about 60 calls to different hospitals that night, but no beds were available," Manchanda told CBS News. But she and the other volunteers in her rapidly-evolving network didn't give up. They posted SOS messages on Twitter and continued calling hospitals through the night, until at last there was a breakthrough.Noumea — France's president held a flurry of meetings with local representatives in the restive Pacific territory of New Caledonia on Thursday, urging calm after deadly rioting, and vowing thousands of military reinforcements will stay in place to quell what he called an "unprecedented insurrection."
Kathmandu — Nepali climber Phunjo Lama on Thursday reached Mount Everest's summit in 14 hours and 31 minutes, smashing the record for the world's fastest ascent of the mountain by a woman. Climbers usually take days to reach the top of the 29,032-foot mountain, spending nights on its different camps to rest and acclimatize.
New Delhi — Indian justice officials have changed course amid outrage over the bail terms set for a teenager accused of killing two people while driving a Porsche at high speed while drunk and without a license. The 17-year-old son of a wealthy businessman had been ordered to write a 300-word essay and work with the local traffic police for 15 days to be granted bail — a decision that was made within 15 hours of his arrest.
Zurich — A woman jogger was killed by a naked man who was screaming and attacking people in a lakeside park in Switzerland, police said Wednesday. The attack happened Tuesday evening in Mannedorf on Lake Zurich, around 12 miles southeast of Switzerland's biggest city, the Zurich cantonal police said.
Norway, Ireland and Spain said Wednesday they are recognizing a Palestinian state in a historic move that drew condemnation from Israel and jubilation from the Palestinians. Israel immediately ordered back its ambassadors from Norway and Ireland and appeared ready to do the same with its ambassador to Spain.